Wednesday, April 24, 2013

With one week left at the Double Bacon Ranch, it seems appropriate to look back at all of the strange and wonderful wildlife that we've encountered on the property. When we first moved in, it was a tiny house with a naked yard. Our first spring, a porch was added. It was huuuge and lovely. But there's only so much that can be done with a place that makes a handyman swoon, especially if you're handy but not *that* handy!

Butterflies and moths featured heavily in our experience at DBR, as did wind scorpions and 'red racers' - the thrill of a bright, pale pink snake in the yard is entirely unparalleled. Moth flies were also a thrill, one at a time, until ~25 were amassed... I do hope they'll make a guest appearance in our future. Hindsight is a strange thing, it makes me realize that moth flies never made it into a blog post!

Native, non-domestic mammals were few and far between, but Striped Skunk (Mephitis mephitis) youngsters were certainly the mamal highlight of our 2.5 years at the Double Bacon; the occasional fox (gray, if I'm not mistaken) and raccoon would make token appearances, but by and large, the list was birds.

There are two birds to add to this list below; Rufous Hummingbird and Song Sparrow, the latter seen from the kitchen window by Matt. Each bird (128, including the previous two) was in some way detected from the property. Some flew over, some perched - just barely - on our side of the property line, or were heard from within its boundaries.The yard... oh, the yard.... highlights are in bold:

Our new adventure will have some challenges: mercury vapor lights across the street, no forest next door... no mature deciduous trees within a few blocks. Ultimately we hope it will provide a more flexible living space for us, even if the blacklighting isn't as good. Actually, we'll probably lose sleep over that. At least we'll be about 1/2 mile closer to Post Park and the SW ponds!

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Pronghorn Antelope are native to the region but undergoing a serious decline and the population out here is currently part of a reintroduction program. A pair was spotted along Post Road (roughly 1/3 of the way between Marathon and Post Park) on 17 April by Bill Sain. I was able to photograph the buck from the vehicle as it casually inspected us from a distance before heading north and east.

Pronghorn Antelope, Post Road, Marathon, Tx 17 April 2013

Post Road has been a reasonable area to spot them in past years, though we've noted fewer since the fire/drought/freeze combination of 2011 kicked in. Above, beyond the hill, there should be a range of mountains visible. Wind and dust has made visibility miserable in the last week.

Pronghorn Antelope, Post Road, Marathon, Tx 17 April 2013

To see what's going on with Pronghorn reintroduction and monitoring efforts, check out the Borderlands Research Institute at Sul Ross State University.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

What happens when a Floridian birds Big Bend National Park? Reports! Kudos to Alexander Harper for the following report:

Unfortunately these notes are a week to two weeks old, though it's no fault of the reporter -- your bloggers are in the middle of moving!

Prairie Falcon in the park just outside of Study ButteGolden Eagle east of Panther Junction

Scaled Quail everywhere

Crissal Thrasher near the entrance to RGV campground

Black-throated Gray Wablers

Upper Chisos Mts:

Blue-throated Hummingbirds (2)

Colima Warbler (4-5)

Painted Redstart

***

Spring is finally settling in to Marathon as well; Summer Tanagers, Ash-throated Flycatchers and Bell's Vireos are in at Post Park, where they'll stick around for the summer, and Wilson's Warblers, Townsend's Warblers and a smattering of other migrants are trickling through.

Friday, April 5, 2013

Pectoral Sandpipers have been known to pass through the Trans-Pecos in low numbers in April; the individual above was photographed at the ponds SW of Marathon (publicly inaccessible, unfortunately) on March 31st. So this bird is not only a bit out of range, but also a bit early and due to backlighting and heat haze, less than photogenic. But we're not hung up on the art so much as the documentation...